The Phoenix Legacy
by M. K. Wren- Contents
- About the series
Cover blurbs and artwork
Historical timeline
Overview of the Concord
Plot summary [spoilers]
Unanswered questions and potential inconsistencies [spoilers]
Thoughts on a Phoenix Legacy roleplaying game
- I came back to this page after not having looked at it for a while, and I realized that a reader might come away with the wrong impression. I really like this series, so much so that I have been known to buy extra copies to give away. So while I might think the covers are goofy, the books are some of the best fiction I have ever read.
- This is a work in progress -- there's more to come!
About the series
The Phoenix Legacy is a series consisting of three books published by Berkely Books in the 1980s. The three books are Sword of the Lamb (1981), Shadow of the Swan (1981), and House of the Wolf (1981).Hundreds of years after the end of the Second Dark Age, young Alexand DeKoven-Woolf is heir to a seat on the Directorate of the Concord of the Thousand Loyal Houses. Through his dying brother Rich, Alexand becomes involved with the Society of the Phoenix, an outlawed group trying to promote evolutionary change in the current social structure before the tensions inherent in the Concord's feudal system bring on a third dark age. The rulers don't see it that way, of course; they never do.
This series is one of the few that posits a feudal style of government that doesn't come across as sounding totally stupid and archaic. This is because the system, while feudal, isn't simply based on the premise that everyone woke up one morning and decided it would be cool to have dukes and barons and such. [In fact, such medieval terms aren't used at all, and the governmental structure resembles nothing so much as a coalition of manufacturing and agricultural conglomerates with hereditary boards of directors -- and employees.] Yes, I know that the space feudalism stories always have some perfunctory excuse grafted into the history of the setting explaining why monarchy made the Great Comeback. Contrary to popular belief, though, history doesn't repeat itself (although it will occasionally present individuals and civilizations with choices and consequences that, in hindsight, are reminiscent of an earlier time), and "Uh, see, there were these dark ages..." is not a sufficient explanation.
Note that there are a few stories that do work despite this -- Herbert's Dune and Pournelle's Mote in God's Eye (two other books on my all-time favorites list) come immediately to mind. The former, however, is set so far in the future as to be almost a parable, and the latter has a lot of detail work in the background which differentiates it from being your run-of-the-mill aristocracy story.
Overall, I enjoyed this series enough that I buy extra copies to give to friends.
Cover blurbs and artwork
This series was published in 1981 and reprinted in 1985. Unfortunately, it had really stupid covers in both instances. The 1981 edition covers made it look like a Jackie Collins novel set in medieval Venetian beach resort, whereas Berkeley chose "goofy looking spaceships unrelated to the story" as the theme for the second edition covers. In addition, the back cover blurbs are about average in accuracy for a book publisher -- meaning that they were apparently written by people who had not read the books.Here are the covers and the blurbs. The top picture is the 1985 edition.
Back cover blurb from Sword of the
Lamb, 1985 edition:
In the 33rd Century, a dazzling empire is poised on the brink of annihilation...Comment: There are a number of inaccuracies here. First, there have already been frequent uprisings of the Bonds; the danger is that the uprisings -- and the increasingly harsh responses to them -- will spiral out of control. Second, the Phoenix is very decidely evolutionary in philosophy -- it has NOT "sworn to overthrow the Concord," as any move to do so would trigger the conflagration they are trying to prevent. |
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Back cover blurb from Sword of the
Lamb, 1981 edition:
The House of DeKoven Woolf:Comment: Not much better than the later addition -- Concord society is explicitly patriarchal (and hence "a woman born to rule" is somewhat misleading, although not entirely without precedent), and the Concord is largely ignorant of the existence of "The Lamb". |
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Back cover blurb from Shadow of the
Swan, 1985 edition:
A proud empire enters the ultimate battle for supremacy...Comment: This blurb has a couple of problems. First, it doesn't make it immediately clear that Alexand takes the name "Alex Ransom" as his cover, for reasons that are clear in the story. Second, Erica Radek doesn't "wield the mind of a computer with a woman's passion" -- once again this is apparently just the publicist's incredibly sexist way of saying that she is smart. Finally, the phrase "enemy of deadly personal ambition" is very poorly worded -- it sounds like someone who is against personal ambition, when it is really someone with a great deal of personal ambition. |
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Back cover blurb from Shadow of the
Swan, 1981 edition:
The magnificent saga of a great family's role in the fall and rebirth of Man:Comment: Of course Dr. Radek had the heart of a woman -- she also had the eyes of a woman, the kidneys of a woman, the spleen of a woman, etc.. In addition, "Ranson" should be "Ransom" and "ConFleet" should be "Confleet." |
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Back cover blurb from House of the
Wolf, 1985 edition:
In the twilight of a doomed civilization, a legacy of daring was their greatest weapon...Comment: "Stand back, or I will wield my legacy of daring against you! (It is very sharp.)" The "universe," in this case, consists of the two star systems containing Sol and Alpha Centauri; I guess "...the fate of two tiny systems out on the rim of the galaxy..." wouldn't sell as many books. |
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Back cover blurb from House of the
Wolf, 1981 edition:
The triumphant conclusion to the magnificent saga of an empire that spans the stars:Comment: By avoiding saying anything, the writer of this back cover blurb managed to avoid saying anything that was incorrect. |
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Historical timeline of the universe of the The Phoenix Legacy
Below are some of the key dates in the history between now and the 33rd century.
| Year | Significance |
|---|---|
| 1945 | First atomic explosive. |
| 1969 | First Lunar Landings. |
| 2030 | Beginning of the Decades of Disaster and the Great Drought. |
| 2040 | End of the Great Drought. |
| 2044 | The Nuclear Wars, and the beginning of the Pandemic. |
| 2060 | Arbitrary end of the Decades of Disaster. Death of the last Prime Minister of Conta Austrail. Arbitrary beginning of the Second Dark Age. |
| 2560 | Bishop Colona writes The Revelations; beginning of Orthodox Church of Holy Mezion. |
| 2585 | Formation of the Holy Confederation of Conta Austrail. Feudal holds of Conta Austrail united under the banners of Colona's Orthodox Church of Holy Mezion and Lord Even Pilgram |
| 2761 | Invention of the Darwin cell, an energy storage and amplification device that makes surface-collected solar energy a viable power source. Industrial renaissance begins. Exploration and trade outside Conta Austrail begins. |
| 2839 | Birth of Lord Patric Eyre Ballarat, "father of the PanTerran Confederation." |
| 2876 | Beginning of the Wars of Confederation. Enactment of the Articles of Union and defacto creation of the PanTerran Confederation. Creation of the Directorate. Creation of the terms "Bond," "Fesh" (from "professional") and "Elite." |
| 2903 | End of the Wars of Confederation. |
| 2920 | Death of Lord Ballarat |
| 3000 | First Lunar Landing since the Disasters. |
| 3052 | Ela Tolstyne's Treatise on Matter/Anti-Matter Interactions published. |
| . | More to come... |